When I grow up

I remember filling out the “In the future I want to be…” section in my yearbook at the end of primary 7 and asking my teacher what someone who designed logos was called, she said she didn’t know and I should just write I wanted to be a “logo designer”. So I did.

I went onto high school where art and graphic communication became my favourite subjects but I had no real idea of what direction I wanted to take my passion in. I flirted with the idea of set design or product design but never for a moment thought I’d make it to Art College. For some reason I did not connect design with art college and as I’ve never been an outstanding artist didn’t think it would be an option. By this time I had forgotten that I had always wanted to be a designer, I lacked guidance from my school, and six years on and I still didn’t know what a “logo designer” was.

It wasn’t until I left school after fifth year and went to college to a BTec in foundation art that I truly saw design as an art form. I ended up specializing in textiles that year which was fun but I knew it wasn’t the career path for me. I went on to complete a HNC in illustration, (purely because I still wasn’t 100% sure what graphic design involved, and illustration seemed a safer option) but as the year went on my work developed a very graphic style.

While everyone moaned about having to learn Adobe CS3 I was thriving on the Macs, I discovered typography for the first time, getting the highest test score in the year (that was including the graphics students too). I felt I did not fit in in illustration, I wanted to make the cross over to the graphic design course. Fortunately I was able to do that, and I completed the final year of my HND in graphics.

Making the switch was the best thing I ever did, suddenly I was surrounded by people who loved the discipline as much as me. I was not a square peg in a round hole, I was round too! It helped that I had very motivated tutors, something I had not experienced in illustration. For the first time I was getting positive feedback for studio work as well as CAD projects, I felt inspired about the industry I would one day end up in.

That year the course ran a mentoring scheme for the first time with six graphic designers from Edinburgh. I was privileged to have this experience as I gained valuable feedback an constructive criticism from the mentors, I made contacts and started to network, I gained further insight into the real world of graphic design. I went to their studios, emailed them, went to the pub with them, I presented to them, brainstormed with them, went on work placement with them. I began to feel and think like a real graphic designer. I was constantly learning new skills I never knew existed.

Like what a concept is. It seems silly now, but about eighteen months ago I didn’t know or understand what a concept was, or understand that you needed one as the basis to all your work. Like a lot of other things I had to learn pretty quickly, I had a whole year of catching up to do compared to my peers.

However during a months work placement I undertook last February at two different design agencies in Edinburgh I grew disheartened. All the excitement of working through and delivering a brief and the buzz of the classroom was lost in the transfer to the workplace. It was simply just another nine till five in a sterile office, the people were nice but there was no spark.

That’s why I applied for art college, I was not ready to enter that type of environment as some of my classmates were. I wanted the excitement, I wanted the thrill and I wanted to be able to stretch myself without limits. In education you have the luxury of inventing solutions that would never go ahead in the real world, I did not want to pander to the client’s every whim just yet.

So I find myself now two weeks in to my second semester and I love it here at DoJ. It took me at least six weeks to settle in and if I’m being honest all of semester one to feel like I belonged in my new course. I still loved graphics, it was just a getting used to a new way of working seemed odd, plus moving to a new city etc. The course seemed slow paced to begin with after the whirl wind year at college but there was new challenges facing me like design studies classes and lectures, more writing and reading are required of me, so while I found some aspects of the course slow to begin with other bits were flying at me.

Just as one of my previous classmates resigns from his junior graphic design post at an agency in Edinburgh after six months on the job to apply to DoJ next year I couldn’t be happier here. I know not all graphic agencies are like the ones I experienced last year, I know it is a demanding and competitive industry, but I also know that graphic design is my passion. I'm not leaving here after three years to settle as a "MacMonkey", I'm aiming higher, and I know DoJ is the right place for me to gain these extra skills to do that.

Valentines day gift ideas

1.Lorem Ipsum Cuff, $59.00 Veer.com 2. CMYK necklace, $18.00 littleshopof @ Etsy.com 3.Lorem Ipsum silk tie, $40.00 toybreaker @ Etsy.com 4. Kern rings, $11.00 plastique @ Etsy.com 5. Kernie Plush Pal, $49.00 Veer.com 6. Moleskine Pocket Sketch-book, £9.50 Paperchase 7. Ampersand necklace, $24.00 Isette @ Etsy.com 8. Love card, $3.00 Upup @ Etsy.com 9.CMYK taches T, $24.00 forwardcollective @ Etsy.com 10. Candy Script cushions, $40.00 Veer.com

As Valentines day approaches our minds turn to finding our partner that perfect gift. And if your partner happens to be a graphic designer I've found some gifts they would be thrilled to receive. (and put you in the good books for a couple of months at least!) This year be more creative than the standard teddy bear or some milk tray

How to Build an iPhone App that Doesn't Suck

I mentioned in my last post that we have been given a brief from uni to design an iPhone application. The brief states that "the app is to be original and designed by you." Which is a pretty wide criteria and leaves it very open to a variety of different subjects. Ideally I'd like to design something that I personally would find useful, something I or someone like me would buy and use everyday and utilize the iPhones fetures, such as GPS etc.

While I continue to ponder the best direction to take this project I recommend watching this lecture from Steve Marmon at Stanford University (in America) which covers the ultimate 10 steps to take when developing an app. It is primarily aimed at technically minded students that will actually be able to code their final idea, rather than me, a graphic designer that defiantly couldn't. But I still got loads out of it, so would recommend watching if you too are designing an iPhone app.

And lets hope my app doesn't suck!

Week 1 down

Well first week back at uni and already feel like I've been back for weeks, but in the best possible way.

Monday got off to a good start with our first new brief of the year and a life drawing class in the afternoon. Later I played with the two cute rats my boyfriend is looking after, they didn't have names at the beginning of the week but they left on thursday morning as Salt and Pepper (because the grey one loves pepperoni, and the other is white...like salt). I also started a new book, Snoop by Sam Gosling. We received a talk from Phil Taylor from the Scottish Crop Research Institute on Tuesday, all about the work they do there, it was much more interesting than it sounds, and I got stuck into our second brief. I also watched The Secret Lives of Pippa Lee and joined the uni swimming pool.

On wednesday I tried to go swimming, but it was shut, so chilled out at yoga instead, and I helped put together some flat pack furniture, well I watched as my boyfriend put them together as I handed him the screws.

On Thursday I had a flash tutorial and managed to make a stick man walk across the screen! I worked on ideas for my projects and briefs various, and I eventually managed to go swimming.

On Friday (well today) I went to my first lecture of the year and had a pub lunch as the union with my lovely classmates. This afternoon we received our last brief of the week - to create and design an iPhone app.

So all in all a good and busy week, looking forward to a chilled weekend.

The perfect gift for a type geek...?

...Or maybe just anyone with good typographic sense? Either way I'm wearing mine with pride.

A quirky little present from my boyfriend, he found them on Etsy, if anyone wants to purchase their own. I think they are pretty cool, but then again I am probably verging on the side of geek when it comes to type.